The Sahara: Traders and Travellers

WARNING: graphic descriptions of violence and warfareMeet Diades, Alexander the Great’s overlooked military engineer, the man who made the impossible siege of Tyre happen.Tristan Hughes and Professor Edmund Richardson retell the thrilling, brutal, brilliant story of invention, am ...  Show more

Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film Odyssey brings Homer’s epic roaring back to life and Tristan Hughes and Dr. Emily Hauser are here to unpack every storm, monster and star-making turn. From the brilliance of the adaptation to the ancient story beneath it, Tristan and Emily bri ...  Show more

In August 1815, a ship called The Commerce runs aground off the coast of Northwest Africa. Onboard are eleven crew members who are merchant traders who have no choice but to row to shore. They will soon find themselves at the edge of the Sahara, one of the most inhospitable place ...  Show more

Captain James Riley’s ship is marooned off the coast of Northwest Africa, where the Sahara meets the sea. The vessel is useless, and his crew’s only chance to make it home is by crossing the largest hot desert in the world. Aside from the sun and lack of food and water, the men a ...  Show more

700 - 1610 - In this episode, we journey to the Sahel — the narrow frontier between desert and savanna where the fortunes of empires were made and lost. From its shifting landscapes emerged the Mali Empire, a realm of immense wealth and faith. Discover how geography, trade, and p ...  Show more

From Lawrence of Arabia to Star Wars via tales of intrepid adventurers traversing lonely sand-swept landscapes, deserts have always had a powerful pull on the popular imagination. But if a desert is full of sand, where did all that sand come from in the first place? That is wh ...